A former Tottenham Hotspur manager has admitted that he actually grew up supporting Arsenal.
The Lilywhites have had a number of players on their books who have openly admitted that they had ties with the Gunners before moving to N17.
The likes of Harry Kane, Darren Bent and Matt Doherty have all been linked to Arsenal, although few members of non-playing staff at White Hart Lane or the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have had these traitorous ties.
That was until one of Spurs’ most successful modern managers revealed that he grew up attending matches at Highbury.
Harry Redknapp says he grew up as an Arsenal fan
Harry Redknapp did an impressive job at Tottenham between 2008 and 2012.
Inheriting a side in the midst of a relegation battle, he reversed the North London club’s fortunes, eventually taking them to Champions League qualification in the 2009/10 season.
During this period, he established himself as one of the most popular managers in Spurs’ recent history, but little did the Tottenham fanbase know that he held allegiances to Arsenal.
Speaking to OTB Football on TikTok, Redknapp revealed that his father was ‘Arsenal mad’ and that he regularly attended games at Highbury as a child.
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“I grew up as an Arsenal fan,” Redknapp explained.
“Oh my god, me and my dad went every week. I lived in the East End of London in a big council estate. Everybody was West Ham. It was a West Ham area. My dad was Arsenal mad.
“We used to get the bus, the 106 bus, the 277 bus every Saturday. My dad was a fantastic non-league footballer. He packed up, and then we used to go. He was Arsenal mad and his favourite all-time player was a man called Jimmy Logie.”
Redknapp rejected the chance to sign Ian Wright for Bournemouth back in the 1980s. Perhaps he subconsciously knew that Wright would go on to become an Arsenal legend, and that signing him for the Cherries would prevent this from materialising.
Will we ever see another Arsenal or Tottenham mercenary?
While boyhood fans of Tottenham have played for Arsenal recently, there have been few pure mercenaries who have happily plied their trade at both clubs in recent years.
The last to play for both North London sides was Emmanuel Adebayor, whose Gunners stint was from 2005 to 2008, and whose Spurs spell was between 2011 and 2014.
William Gallas came not too long before the Togolese, while before that, it was David Bentley and, famously, Sol Campbell.
After what Campbell experienced in terms of abuse following his controversial move across North London, it’s difficult to envisage another player repeating this.
In fact, gone are the days of players moving between arch-rivals in the Premier League. Not too long ago, players would regularly swap Manchester City for Manchester United, or vice versa.
This hasn’t happened for some time, and it appears players are now more reticent to complete such moves, possibly out of fear of the reaction.